Our Redding Visit and Seeing Family again!

Our Redding Visit

Sally and Richard were the first to greet us when we got settled at our site.  Sally has kept us informed with changes at the park since we left, and after their grandson, Roman, was born, she has kept us up to date on him too.

What a cute little boy.  Doesn't say a lot... but has some great expressions!

 

One evening we enjoyed a fire and some "catching up" with some of the people at the park.

We were surprised at the greeting we received from people at the park. 
They made us feel loved!

Look at this... Melanie even left us this bottle of Wine on our table.

It was time to say good-bye to Norma and Rick again... They certainly have the park handled.

We enjoyed a good time with both of them.

This is Norma... Rick was out and about I guess.

 

Oregon

Tuesday we made our way back to Oregon. 
We still own a home here in Grants Pass.  We've rented it out since moving out 4 years ago, and we are very fortunate to have a young family in there now that takes care of the property and pays their rent on time.  We were thrilled that they want to renew their lease for another year.

Stuff
Like most of you... we still have some STUFF we left behind.  So when we're in town, we make a trip to our storage unit to remind ourselves of what we have... and offload stuff and onload stuff.

Family

Our first stop after crossing into Oregon was to my parents home in Medford.

Hi Mom and Dad... We're back!

The plan was to park our fifth-wheel on the street out front of their house for the night.
But it was one issue after the other and it was clear it wasn't going to work.
So after a wonderful Mom's home cooked dinner, we moved on down the freeway to
Valley of the Rogue State Park.

 Jeff's Son, Jon, also lives here in Medford. 
Jon and Brooke came over the evening after we arrived.
It always feels good to know the gifts we bought were "right on"

Father and Son

 

We hadn't planned to do any hosting in Southern Oregon, but we had inquired, so when they had a cancellation they contacted us.  So here we are hosting at Valley of the Rogue SP in Rogue River. 

 

 

Its good to be doing something again. 

 But so far we're a bit torn with the expectations surrounding us.  Some of the expectations we have put on ourselves, I'm sure... but family is what we're here for.

 

 

Jeff really enjoys having a campfire.  There have been many times over the past several months that we couldn't have a fire, for whatever reason.  So we bought ourselves a propane fire pit. 

Its not quite the same, but it cures the craving.

 

 They don't give us free firewood at this park, which is unlike the other State Parks we've hosted at and doesn't seem right... but its the way it is here.  So we took advantage of all the fallen branches from the wind storm the other night and made ourselves a free fire. 

We don't need their stinkin' firewood!

 

We were dreading coming back to Oregon so early in the year, but for 2 days so far, we had incredibly sunny warm weather.  It wont be so bad.

Hopefully tomorrow we will get our motorcycle over here! 

 

 Take Care All... Thanks for reading.

Back to Redding RV Park

 

This afternoon we arrived back at Redding RV Park in Redding, California...

where we spent 6 months workamping a year ago.  Its a beautiful day of 75 degrees!  

We didn't have this kind of weather the Winter we were here! 

 

We left here on March 29, 2013 and since leaving have pulled our wheel house 

10,556 miles through 36 States.  Whoo Hoo!!

 

 

We drove 295 miles yesterday, and stayed in a parking lot in Lathrop, California.

We checked out the County park campground first, but there were only back-in spaces and we were into the trees and too crowded to pull the slides out comfortably.

So we went back to this parking lot beside the freeway that we had seen.

 

FREE beats $25 any day!

 

We were on the road at 9am this morning... and that may just be a record for us.

We had only 220 miles to drive today... a very smooth travel day.

 

We checked the trailer tires as usual at a rest area, and the inside where the tread is worn down felt hot and a little sticky, so we're getting a little concerned.  We were hopeful that by putting more air in the tires it would keep the insides from getting more worn, and we could make it until after we've made some money at our Spring/Summer workamping job.

 

So...
10 months... 10,556 miles... and 20 pounds  
  later... we are back where we started.





We will be here 2 or 3 nights... catching up with people we met here, taking care of a little business, and watching the 49er's kick Seahawk butt tomorrow!

Then we will be happy to be going back to work as park camp hosts and property caretakers soon.

BYE BYE... LAS VEGAS!

In prior visits, we've had some luck playing the casinos in Vegas.  But this time I must say...

"The money we played in Vegas... Stayed in Vegas."

 Fortunately there are other things to do in Vegas besides gambling!

When we were here 2 years ago, we visited Pawn Stars.

This time we visited "Counts Kustoms"

Danny "The Count" and his crew have their own show "Counting Cars" on History channel.

I'm more familiar with Danny and his work from his appearances on Pawn Stars.

Many bike builds and car or truck builds are on display in the museum/store

Nothing on display is "ordinary"

There are some very unique (or strange) builds.

 

 The guys were in the shop working, but we weren't allowed in...

they have the area surrounding the bay door roped off.

We thought we would visit Pawn Stars again... but our minds were changed by the very long line out the door waiting their turn to get in.  Lines just aren't our thing.  So we kept driving.

Old Las Vegas

Downtown Las Vegas on Fremont Street is fun to walk...

without the crazy crowds on the New Las Vegas Strip.

 

From the Fremont District, we drove over to Tim and Ardee's place in North Vegas.

Ardee fixed us an incredible dinner of Lasagne and Salad.

AND I got my doggie fix!  

 

We've known Ardee and Tim for years, back when we all lived in Southern Oregon.

 

Jeff and Tim rode together in a club, and Ardee and I worked together,

then later we also enjoyed riding together. 

 The next evening we had them over to our place so we could show off  "wheel life" (and so we didn't have to drive in Vegas traffic again).  I served Pizza Hut!  Then we watched a new Redbox movie "Prisoners"... it was a long movie and I was doubtful about it at first, but it ended up being good.  And I had one of the doggie's snuggled up with me... and everything's better with a doggie to snuggle with!  I think it may be getting ready to get a doggie of my own again.

So that was Vegas.  We had a good time... but we were ready to move on.

We left this morning and drove 245 miles to a PA park near Mojave, California off Hwy 58.  Tomorrow we will drive through Bakersfield and get on I-5 which will soon take us back to Oregon!

Hope all our blogger friends are well...  Thank you for reading. 

We would appreciate your comments as well.

Good-Bye Cave Creek... Hello Vegas!

Sadly, it was time for us to leave our park in Cave Creek on Wednesday.  We had allowed ourselves 2 days to get to Las Vegas... but we ended up taking the shorter route up through Kingman, so it was only 300 miles, and all was going well so we opted to drive all the way to our destination.  Fortunately, it wasn't a problem for Las Vegas RV Resort to have us come in a night early.

A few things I will highlight of the remainder of our visit there...

Happy Birthday, Harry!

 

Their favorite hang-out is The Roadrunner... less than a mile from their house.  I would describe it as and old rustic cowboy biker bar... and I'll just dare Harry to actually comment on our blog and correct me if my description is inaccurate!

 

 

Friend, Jenna, led us all in singing "Happy Birthday"

 

 

It was Karaoke night, and surprisingly, Harry & Jeff volunteered to sing to us.

We wished they hadn't!  Not really... they actually entertained us quite well, WHILE staying on tune!

 

 

Monday, Drina fixed an incredible Prime Rib Roast dinner for us.  No pictures... but it was great food, great conversation, and a good movie!  We watched The Big Fish... ever seen it?  I had seen it before, but hadn't enjoyed it like I did this time.

 

Back at Cave Creek Regional Park... we hadn't been in a place where we could realistically put up our bird feeders, for months.  We really enjoy watching the birds, squirrels and rabbits... so when we have opportunity, we do our best to keep them satisfied and happy.

Tuesday we had the day planned with Harry & Drina.  We started out the afternoon with a trip to Buddy Stubbs Harley-Davidson.  Jeff has a very old pair of Riding Gloves, and the only place he has ever seen them is the museum there.  So we were hopeful they could tell us something about them...  Unfortunately, Buddy Stubbs was not there, and those that were there couldn't tell us anything.

After this, we went to Cave Creek, where we looked around at shops and had a wonderful lunch at The Hideaway.  

 But I left my camera in the truck!  (Its just not the same when I cant SHOW and Tell.)

 

The morning we left, Drina came by with little Levi and had coffee with me...

Outside I must say (since the weather has been so COLD in much of the country)... It was such a beautiful morning... it made it even harder to leave.

 

But the time had come, that we must move on down the road...

...making our way to Las Vegas.

 

We hadn't originally planned on another trip to Las Vegas on our return trip to Oregon, but in November, we heard from some friends from our hometown of Grants Pass, Oregon.  They are living in Vegas now, so we made another Vegas trip to see Tim and Ardee.

 

Friday we met them down on The Strip, and walked and walked... went up and back down... and walked and walked.  If you've walked The Strip you know what I'm talking about.  Really, we had so much catching up to do, that we didn't see much of anything... we just walked and talked and walked and talked.

 



but we did stop long enough to enjoy some lunch and a beer at the Harley Davidson Café.

Now it is Tuesday and we have done lots more... and have more to do...

but I will continue on Las Vegas in next post!

 

 

A HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU!

Good-bye to a fun 2013!

In 2013 we traveled 9,540 miles and visited 36 States

 

This was most likely the most miles we will put on in a year.  To visit the East Coast States was something we wanted to do, but now that we have done it, we will probably be content with staying in the Western States.

 

"At Home" in Arizona!

 

January 1, 2014

This first day of 2014 we are settled into a site at a favorite park in Cave Creek, AZ.  We arrived yesterday afternoon, and the closer we got, the more at home we felt. 
There's nothing like the Arizona desert sun!

 

We will be here 8 days, and are looking forward to spending time with our friends, Harry & Drina.

This New Years Day, we spent the day at their house.

They have such an incredible outdoor living area... each time we visit, its evolved a little more.

 

Good Buddies enjoying a New Years beer together.

Harry and Drina are such hospitable neighbors...
They always welcome any of their neighbors to join in the fun... and they do!

 They had told us that their next door neighbor lights up the hill with lights every year, and we finally had the chance to see it for ourselves.  This was incredible!  I cant imagine how many hours of work this is... but it sure is enjoyable for all to see!

 

 

January 2, 2014

5 Year Wedding Anniversary

Today is our 5 year wedding anniversary!  and 4 of our 5 years together we've lived on wheels!

Living the "Wheel Life" means we're together all the time, which makes it nearly impossible to get something for the other without them knowing it... so we give of ourselves and make our own cards.

This is what awaited me this morning.

 

We'd been debating for awhile, what we should do for our anniversary.   It seems like we should find something special to do together... but it's not like we haven't spent each of the other 364 days together, and enjoyed so many special things together!  SO... we talked ourselves out of having to find something "special" to do.  Instead we chose to enjoy the peacefulness and warmth of the sunshine at our site. 

 

 But first we went to Costco... finally! 

 

 We bought Salmon and a side dish, so we grilled up a wonderful anniversary dinner here at the park.

 

 

 

 

Blog Catch-Up

Last post was on Christmas and we were in Luling, Texas.

We left there the day after Christmas, and headed West, not sure how far we would travel.

We ended up traveling 325 miles and staying at a Rest Area (I-10 MM305) between Ozona and Fort Stockton.  Not a bad nights stay for a rest area.

 

The next day (Friday) we traveled another 320 miles and made it into New Mexico. 

 

We've spent a lot of time in New Mexico, mainly our first year out. 

 



Jeff breathed a big sigh and a breath of excitement when we crossed into New Mexico.  For me, I had felt that way when we arrived in Texas... but for him I guess it didn't happen till we got to New Mexico.

 

We had a few extra days to get to Cave Creek for our reservation, so we had the choice of staying a couple days in Las Cruces or a couple days in Tucson.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Since we don't really like to drive on Saturday, we opted for staying 3 nights in Las Cruces.  

We ended up stopping East of Las Cruces at a PA park in Vado, NM.  It didn't look like much, but it was comfortable.   

 

Saturday we went into Las Cruces to relive the places we'd been.  But there were just too many people in old town, Mesilla... we couldn't even find a place to park.  So instead, we found a brewery that we hadn't gone to before... and shared a pitcher of IPA.

Then we gave a call to Elaine.  We met Elaine our first year out at Fort Seldon State Park, where she was camp host, and we've stayed in touch and stopped in when we were in the area.  She just bought a house so we went to see her there.

 

I really looked forward to seeing Biscuit again... as you can see.  I think I need my own doggie again.

 

We enjoyed the visit, and met her brother, Diego, who was visiting.

 

Sunday, we really wanted to watch the 49er game... the last regular season game.  It turned out the local station was not playing the 49er game... they were playing the Packers game. 

 

So we found a sports bar in Las Cruces that would have the game on.  But the place was packed!  No seats available, and the 49er game was only on one television.  There were 3 huge television out on the patio but every TV had the Packers game on... I wanted to say "You can watch THAT game at home!  So Go Home and let me watch my 49er game!!  But that wasn't going to happen... so we came home and I followed what I could on my laptop. 

 

We left Las Cruces Monday morning, and since our reservation at Cave Creek wasn't until Tuesday, we stopped at Tucson for the night  We decided to stay at the Desert Diamond Casino for the night.  We stayed there 3 years ago, and it was even better this time.  We got a great parking spot for the night... AND they gave us a free dinner buffet and Free Play!

 

So back to TODAY (January 3rd)...  We just enjoyed more of this wonderful Arizona Sunshine.

And there's nothing like a Desert Sunset!

 

 

This weekend is FOOTBALL!!  The 49ers won last week and will play a Wild Card game Sunday!  We WILL watch it!

Now I will end this post with Jeff's latest "Bright" idea:

Jeff turned his last box wine into a dry camping faucet! 

It works great.  Obviously, if we have water in the fresh water tank, we can use the real faucet...

but if we didn't know we were going to boondock, and we have an empty fresh water tank...

 this is for those times!  Great idea, Jeffrey!